Outsourced: Upkeep of flyovers

Outsourced: Upkeep of flyovers
Prathima Nandakumar | TNN

Bangalore: IT City Bangalore has seen at least 12 flyovers come up over the past decade. Now the city’s oldest — the Sirsi Circle flyover, built in 1998 — is plagued by water stagnation and is in dire need for a make-over. The BBMP is floating tenders for its annual maintenance contract.
With this, the city is slowly gearing up to outsource maintenance and upkeep of its flyover and underpasses.
“All flyovers and underpasses may have to be brought under independent maintenance contracts as their liability or guarantee period with the contractor would eventually expire. At present, they are all being maintained by the construction agencies which built them,’’ said BBMP commissioner S Subramanya.
Most flyovers in the city fall within the defective liability period of 1-3 years. However, there is a need to constantly monitor the maintenance activity as many roads have developed potholes, signages are growing fainter, among other things, feel experts.
“Once the guarantee period is over, the flyovers are at the mercy of the ward engineers, who seek allocation for repair and maintenance as and when a defect arises. It is time for a common annual maintenance contract for flyovers and underpasses,’’ said BBMP officials.
The BBMP is floating tenders to award maintenance of Sirsi Circle flyover. Though most structures are fairly new, they would still require minor repairs — from asphalting, painting of medians, signages, to replacement of expansion joints, explained Jaiprasad, BBMP’s technical advisor.
According to experts, flyovers and underpasses need to be inspected once a year to physically check the structure for any defects. And once in five years, a thorough inspection and certification is a must.
“Most projects are handed over to the BBMP or BDA only after the structural maintenance period of one or two years is complete. This clause helps as most defects show within a short period and the contractor can rectify any defect that is detected,’’ said A T Samuel, an infrastructure consultant.